13 African monkeys recovered in Cachar Tea Estate

A CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR: After narcotic substances, now it is the turn for smuggling of rare animal species using the Barak Valley as a safe passage. Weeks after recovering two Indonesian chimpanzees at Lailapoor near Mizoram, 13 exotic monkeys were found in Derby Tea Estate on Tuesday evening. According to Parthankar Choudhury, Professor of Ecology at Assam University, these monkeys belong to the Brazza species usually found in central Africa.

Locals of Derby first noticed four abandoned cages in the garden. They immediately informed the forest department. Cachar DFO Tejas Mariswamy said, the departmental staff rushed to the tea garden and recovered the monkeys. They sent the monkeys to Assam State Zoo in Guwahati.

Mariswamy suspected that the animals were being smuggled from Myanmar via Mizoram and as the department had recently tightened the vigilance in the border area, the miscreants might have abandoned the caged animals.

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